Hymnody of the Blue Heron

A Farewell to Lent

A Farewell to Lent is a collection of poems, mostly theological or otherwise “religious” in some sense, that follows a progress of spiritual searching, growth, failure, frustration, triumph, praise, and celebration. The poems move toward and follow from Easter, the definitive Christian season and holy day. Taken together, they do not make a steady or self-confident march, but rather a lurching and staggering, within a realization of inner peace and joy.​Of this collection of poems, the author says, “I have no skill whatever in dance, and yet I learned to dance freely and joyfully on feet so swollen and painful that I could barely walk. For me, that is the life of praise and worship, and I hope these poems convey at least some of what I mean by that.”

Hymnody of the Blue Heron

​This book is a varied collection, thematically and stylistically. The poems often employ imagery from the farmlands and wilds of Kansas or from “Nature” generally, and some explore our relationship to Nature. About half of the poems delve into love of friends, spouse, or family, lost love or tensions within love. Very many of these poems speak of failure, of body, mind, or soul, but also of hope for forgiveness, reunion, and healing.

A Note to His Doctor My friend, old and passing, said, “There is more to life than staying alive. Don’t rescue me too much.” On his farm, twelve miles out by rough gravel roads, he is done with plowing, spraying, harvesting. But he is not done watching the sun sink below the windbreak or listening to the nighthawks above his fields. Don’t make him move to town. There is more to tragedy than dying.Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol 312, Nu 1, p. 98 July 2, 2014.

​Hadduck is at his best in this new collection, struggling with angels through the long night, refusing to let go until his questions are answered and his blessing received. Reading these pages, we are invited to share in both the fight and the reward.-Daniel Schwindt